Thursday, June 30, 2011

The U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously June 30 to apply Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 Amendment to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines Retroactively.

Photo: Big Stock Photos

This means that on November 1, 2011, when the amendment takes effect, approximately 12,000 offenders may be eligible to seek reductions in their sentences.

The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 reduced the disparate sentencing ratio for crack/powder cocaine, which disproportionately affected Blacks, from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1.

Unless Congress acts to disapprove the amendment, the Commission estimates that the average sentence reduction for eligible offenders will be approximately 37 months.

I will be signing onto a conference call with national civil and human rights groups in about 45 minutes so we'll have more on the US Sentencing Commission’s decision and reactions from national organizations, including the ACLU and NAACP, in an upcoming article in The Final Call!

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Sis. Charlene @ KJLH Radio

As former producer of the Front Page, I got a daily, ring side seat to news and analysis from some of the most hard-hitting scholars our communities have produced, many you're already familiar with. The show features daily listener comments and questions and on Mondays, I produced the Next Page, a mini-feature on issues impacting our people, but that were buried in the news. .